MSI: a visible multi-spectral imager for 1.6-m telescope of Hokkaido University

Makoto Watanabe; Yukihiro Takahashi; Mitsuteru Sato; Shigeto Watanabe; Tetsuya Fukuhara; Ko Hamamoto; Akihito Ozaki

doi:10.1117/12.925292

5 October 2012 MSI: a visible multispectral imager for 1.6-m telescope of Hokkaido University

Makoto Watanabe, Yukihiro Takahashi, Mitsuteru Sato, Shigeto Watanabe, Tetsuya Fukuhara, Ko Hamamoto, Akihito Ozaki

Proceedings Volume 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV; 84462O (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925292
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

We have built a visible multi-spectral imager (MSI) for the 1.6-m Pirka telescope of the Hokkaido University in Hokkaido, Japan. The instrument is equipped with two liquid crystal tunable filters and a 512 × 512 pixel EMCCD camera. One of the major purposes of this instrument is to obtain multi-spectral images (series of narrow-band images at many different wavelengths) of the solar planets rapidly. These tunable filters are a Lyot filter with liquid crystal variable retarders and thus can tune the transmitting wavelength rapidly without moving parts. Their spectral ranges are 400–720 nm and 650–1100 nm and the bandwidth is typically 10 nm on both filters. The EMCCD camera can obtain images at a frame rate of about 32 Hz, which also enables us to improve the spatial resolution with the shift-and-add or the Lucky imaging techniques. The field of view is 3.3 × 3.3 arcmin with a pixel scale of 0.39 arcsec pixel⁻¹. The instrument also has UBV RI-band broad-band filters and several narrow-band filters. MSI is mounted at the f/12 Cassegrain focus of the telescope. It had the first light on February 2011, and then have been used for several astronomical and planetary science programs as a major facility instrument at this telescope. We describe the design, construction, integration, and performance of this multi-spectral imager.

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Makoto Watanabe, Yukihiro Takahashi, Mitsuteru Sato, Shigeto Watanabe, Tetsuya Fukuhara, Ko Hamamoto, and Akihito Ozaki "MSI: a visible multispectral imager for 1.6-m telescope of Hokkaido University", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84462O (5 October 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925292

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